Continuing to grow, ABC’s “Private Practice” ran a close second to CBS’ “The Mentalist” in the 10 o’clock hour among Adults 18-49, while more than doubling the young adult audience of NBC’s “Prime Suspect” (2.6/7 vs. 1.2/3). Beating out “The Mentalist” by wide margins with Adults 18-34 (+18%) and Women 18-34 (+60%), “Private Practice” finished as the No. 1 drama in the hour for the 5th consecutive week on both Nielsen measures.

Building its numbers for the 2nd straight week in viewers (+6% - 6.8 million vs. 6.4 million) and young adults (+8% - 2.6/7 vs. 2.4/6), “Private Practice” scored best-since-season-premiere numbers across a number of key measures: Total Viewers, as well as across all key Adult and Women demographics.

A note about increasing DVR penetration and year-to-year rating comparisons: Year-to-year rating comparisons based on the Live + Same Day data stream are distorted by the level of DVR penetration in the Nielsen sample, which has jumped up to 43% currently, from 38% at the same point in 2010. More viewers are watching shows on their own timetables, which may not be reflected in the overnight next day numbers. The only truly valid year-to-year comparison would be one based on the Live + 7 Day metric, once those stats are released by Nielsen.